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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28502523">settle down</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanmosphere/pseuds/chanmosphere'>chanmosphere</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tales of Chanbaek [31]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>EXO (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:08:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,484</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28502523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chanmosphere/pseuds/chanmosphere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a short outline of what this could have been.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Tales of Chanbaek [31]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/954441</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>settle down</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After a long talk with his company and the releasing of his last single, his contract finally comes to an end and he’s free to do whatever he wants. With the help of a friend, he ends up in a small town with barely a hundred habitants, six hours away from the city and where he expects no one will recognize him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His apartment is small, but cosy and homey, he couldn’t ask for more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It isn’t until one Friday afternoon, two weeks after settling down into what he expects to become his new home that Baekhyun passes by the local middle school after a trip to the grocery store. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He stops by the fence, watching as all the kids run out of the school to meet their parents at the door. An unconscious smile spreads on his lips, he’s always loved kids, but his career never allowed him to even think about it; dating was impossible, having a personal life was, as well and so he had to settle for taking care of his niece, his brother's daughter, whenever he could, every once in a while. But as time passed, Baekhyun realized that those desires would remain as just that, desires. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He meets Chanyeol some time later at the same grocery store, a man a head taller than him and with eyes so overwhelmingly bright that Baekhyun doesn’t know what to do with himself. He has a smile for everyone and everyone in town seems to know him as they walk side by side down the street, Chanyeol waving and yelling greetings at every single person. He lives, apparently, two blocks down his apartment complex.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chanyeol tells him he works at the local middle school as a music teacher and that he has an amazing five year old son named Jooyoung, he also tells him how on his free time he likes to write music and has composed a few songs here and there, Baekhyun is fascinated and excited and not knowing why, ends up spilling out his entire life story as well ㅡor at least a big part of itㅡ to the stranger… that doesn’t feel like a stranger at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before Baekhyun knows it, he finds himself thinking about the man more than he probably should. He waits for him everyday after school ends so they can have lunch together and Chanyeol invites him a cup of coffee every Friday afternoon. A simple cup of coffee has never tasted so good. Chanyeol gives all the credit to Kim Minseok, the owner of the only two coffee shops in town.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chanyeol is known and loved among the people and Baekhyun can clearly see why. He has a big heart, he’s kind and a gentleman; the kids he teaches to, adore him and amusingly, so do the moms. Baekhyun finds it funny, how a man with his height and his looks can blush so easily at the compliments of a 65 year old lady, the grandma of one of his students. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s adorable, if you ask Baekhyun.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s two months later into what Baekhyun likes to call a relationship, that he finally meets Chanyeol’s son, after the boy returns from the city where he was spending time with his mother and grandparents.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Jooyoung looks a lot like his dad: same eyes and same ears, but his hair is of a light shade of brown; he’s taller than most kids his age and a force to reckon with. Baekhyun has to admit he has never seen a most adorable kid before. Jooyoung is polite and sweet and he warms up to Baekhyun sooner and easier than Baekhyun had thought; all it took was a walk on the park and a cone of chocolate ice cream without dad knowing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Baekhyun falls deeply in love with the both of them and there’s not a single day he won’t spend in their company. Memories of a past, agitated life long forgotten.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first time Baekhyun stays over at the Park’s home, Chanyeol cooks dinner for them; they watch a movie while eating dessert until Jooyoung falls asleep and Chanyeol puts him to bed. Baekhyun figures is time for him to confess the way he feels about Chanyeol, hoping he’ll feel the same, so after a few glasses of wine, Baekhyun mans up and spills everything out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The silence Chanyeol falls in is terrifying, Baekhyun has half a mind to run off and never see the man again, probably die of embarrassment too, but then, Chanyeol is wrapping his arms around him very tightly, telling him that he thinks he loves him too. Baekhyun has never felt such happiness in his life before.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It’s a few months later that Baekhyun finds himself taking care of Jooyoung while Chanyeol is busy with a private piano lesson, that Baekhyun accidentally walks in the only room in the Park’s house that he has never been before: Chanyeol’s studio. There’s nothing out of normal about it, the older Park has all the necessary instruments to form a band all on his own, a computer and a small recording board; it brings Baekhyun a lot of memories. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His curiosity takes the best of him and hoping to find something interesting ㅡmaybe one of the songs Chanyeol has writtenㅡ, he comes across a stack of papers inside one of the desk’s drawers. It takes a couple of seconds for Baekhyun to realize that they are indeed songs… songs that are very familiar to him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With his heart racing, Baekhyun quickly looks through the songs, thinking that maybe he’s just going crazy, but he soon confirms that yes, the last three music sheets are the original demos of the first three songs he released when he was just starting his career as an idol; the first three songs that marked the beginning of a successful journey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Baekhyun is too absorbed in the situation that he doesn’t hear the front door opening until Chanyeol’s voice pulls him out of his daze. Chanyeol looks mad at his intrusion, but Baekhyun is not having it, he needs an explanation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sits with Chanyeol in the living room and waits. It takes the taller guy a couple of minutes before he starts talking, but then, he tells Baekhyun everything about how he went to university in the city with music as his major and how thanks to his dedication ㅡhis professors’ words, not hisㅡ, he landed a job with an important entertainment company (Baekhyun’s company), soon after he graduated, around the same time Baekhyun debuted as an idol. Chanyeol also explained to him how he realized the big city wasn’t for him, so after a couple of years, he decided that a change of scenery would make him and his son good. Leading to a much more personal conversation. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chanyeol told him about Jooyoung’s mom; how they met in their first year of college and dated for those four years. She found out she was pregnant a month after graduating and at that time, Chanyeol thought his life couldn’t be any better. But not everything always works out and after she landed her first stable job, right after Jooyoung was born, things started to change. Her job demanded her to travel a lot, leaving Chanyeol and their son on their own; tired of all the coming and going, Chanyeol decided it was time for a change, he filled a lawsuit to get Jooyoung’s full custody and because the nature of her job required her to travel a lot, deeming her incapable of caring for a child, Chanyeol got it. Giving her two months out of the twelve the year has to share with her son, had been his own decision after a long talk with her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The fact that Baekhyun didn’t know who the composers of his music were wasn’t that surprising either. He was only given the music, all the arranges ready for him to just sing it. Chanyeol was never informed who he was writing the music for, at that time he didn’t care and was busy with more important things than to sit and watch music shows. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Chanyeol confessed that all the money he made from that time was safely saved in a bank account, reserved solely for Jooyoung’s future education. Once again, Baekhyun melted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Baekhyun comes to the conclusion that the world is indeed a very small place. He could call it fate or a coincidence, but he’s more than sure he doesn’t regret a moment spent with Park Chanyeol and his adorable son.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eventually, Baekhyun manages to convince Chanyeol to play his songs on his guitar while they sit outside the Parks’ house and Baekhyun sings to his own, old lyrics; Jooyoung sitting on his lap as he babbles his nonsense along with the ex idol. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Baekhyun thinks he could get used to this and maybe finally, have a solid reason to settle down.</span>
</p>
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